Languages in the Baltic states
In the Baltic states, languages are divided in to 2 brands: Indo - European (Balto - Slavic languages) and Uralic languages (Finno - Ugric languages, Finnic) Uralic Uralic languages divisions (Baltic - speaking in bold, related in italic). The Uralic language community was founded in the late Stone Age in the Ural region. Uralic *Samoyedic languages (spoken around the Ural mountains on both sides). *Finno - Ugric languages :*Ugric languages ::*''Hungarian'' ::*Ob - Ugric languages :::*Mansi :::*Khanty :*Finno - Permic languages ::*Permic languages(spoken in the lowerhills of the Urals). :::*Komi :::*Udmurt ::*Finno - Volgaic languages :::*Finnic languages ::::*''Finnish'' ::::*'Estonian' ::::*'Livonian' ::::*''Karelian'' ::::*''Ingrian'' ::::*''Vepsian'' ::::*'South Estonian (Voro, Seto)' ::::*Votic ::::*Ludic :::*Sami ::::*11 dialects, sometimes considered languages :::*Vepsian ::::*5 dialects. :::*Mordvinic languages ::::*Erzya ::::*Moksha :::*Mari languages ::::*Hill Mari ::::*Meadow Mari Estonian Estonian is closest to Finnish. Estonian use the Estonian alphabet, consist of 23 "traditional" letters and 4 letters that only occur in loanwords. Estonian is the official language of the Republic of Estonia Native speakers: Roughly 1.05 million. South Estonian South Estonian consist of the old genera, occurs in the 17th - early 20th centuries. Modern South Estonian consist of the main Vorõ and Seto dialects, and the minor Mulgi and Taltu dialects. It is build based on the old languages in the 1970s and the 1980s. Vorõ dialect is now taught in its area, Seto is common but not taught in school, while the other two dialects are nearly extinct. Livonian Some individuals still wish to see Livonia united and consider themselves Livonian by ethnicity. The Livonians or Livs are what remains of the indigenous Finnic inhabitants of Livonia. They used to speak the Uralic Livonian language. the language was closely related to Estonian and Finnish and not so closely to Karelians, Saamis and Vepsians. The language actually did not interest young Livonians in the late 20th century and they chose to learn Russian and Latvian instead. In 2001 the final native speaker of Livonian died, and the Livonians was again interested in the language. By 2010, only one person was known to have learned Livonian as their mother tongue about 30 who had learnt it as their second. As of 2011, there were around 30 native speakers of the language. Baltic languages Balt languages are part of the Balto - Slavic family of the Indo - European languages. West Baltic languages are extinct, while East Baltic languages range from middle Poland to the Urals, from Estonia to Belarus. However, the primarily area consist of simply Latvia, Lithuania and Kaliningrad. Divisions: Baltic languages: :*West Baltic languages (extinct) ::*Galindian ::*Old Prussian ::*Sudovian ::*Skalvian :*East Baltic languages ::* Latvian :::* Latgalian ::* Lithuanian :::* Samogitian ::*Curonian :::*Old Curonian (extinct) :::*New Curonian ::*Selonian (extinct) ::*Semigallian (extinct) ::*Golyad (extinct) Latvian & Lithuanian The two primary languages are national languages of their respective states. Speakers are also found in Poland, Belarus and Russia. Other languages Latgalian, Samogitian and New Curonian are all nearly extinct during the Soviet era, but the languages has grew over since. Slavic languages Slavic languages in the Baltic states are mostly Russian, Belarussian and Polish. Divisions of the Slavic languages: *West Slavic :*Polish :*Czech :*Slovak :*Sorbian :*Silesian *East Slavic :*Russian :*Belarussian :*Ukrainian *South Slavic :*Serbian and its dialects :*Croatian :*Bulgarian :*Macedonian :*Slovenian Polish Poland and Lithuania share a common history period as the Polish - Lithuanian Commonwealth during 1569 - 1795. As a result there are a lot of Poles in Lithuania. Polish seems to mix with Lithuanian in areas with emigrants majority, creating a dialect-a-like of Polish. Poles mixed with local Russians and Germans as well. Russian Russian came into the Baltics mostly through the Russian Empire and early Soviet eras, when local Uralic and Baltic languages was disallowed. School taught Russian, local was told to only speaks Russian, and so on. Russians was well-noted in Estonia and Latvia, while Lithuania was known for is success in keeping Russians away. Governments in Estonia and Latvia adopted that only people that lived or had ancestors that lived in the Baltics before 1940 are able to get citizen prove of that country, thus making a lot of Russians left those nations. Belarussian Distribution of related Uralic languages Karelian Republic The Republic of Karelia recognizes Russian as 'official language'. Veps, Karelian and Finnish account for large number of speakers too. Kaliningrad Oblast Kaliningrad was home to the extincted language Prussian, as well as, partly, Lithuanian. Leningrad Oblast Finnish and Ingrian was recognized in the oblast. Finland Finnish in Finland. Further languages: Saami, Hungarian, Mordvinic Saami are present in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Hungarian are in Hungary and its neighbors (Slovakia, Czech, Slovennia, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, etc.). Mordvinic are spoken in a wide area far north of the Caucasus. Also see *The Ethno-genesis of the Baltic peoples *Russians living in Latvia *Baltic food *The Jewish Holocaust and Roma Porajmos in the Baltic states *Old Prussia *Lithuanian alphabet *Latvian alphabet *Latvia's Law on State Languages *Estonian alphabet Category:Ethnic issues Category:Culture